


Softly Because We Need It

by Sunlite



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Better Off Dead is the best underrated movie and you CANT change my mind, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I love that movie more than I love myself, M/M, Modern AU, listen, the sweetest thing you will read in your entire life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 19:57:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15937214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunlite/pseuds/Sunlite
Summary: Roe gets called into work in the middle of the night and Blithe waits for him.





	Softly Because We Need It

**Author's Note:**

> hhh I can't believe I made a whole new rarepair

Blithe wakes up on the couch covered in a blanket.

He’s awake before his eyes are open, the sound of the whirring coffee machine from the kitchen waking him. It’s an old, broken thing – you have to bang it sometimes to get the coffee to drip out into the mug. It’s quiet, and when he opens his eyes he confusedly remembers _he’s in a blanket_ but doesn’t remember falling asleep with one. The sky is barely peeking out into morning just outside the windows, this beautiful shift from white to varying shades of blues. His memory rushes back to him, and he remembers why he fell asleep in the first place. He shoots up and looks to the kitchen warily.

Eugene is there. He’s making coffee out of their shitty coffee machine, and he doesn’t have to hit it, because it always seems to work better around him. He’s in the clothes he left in last night, and his shirt ripples as he moves. He is quiet, and for the millionth time he frames this memory forever in his head – one of those things he never wants to forget. The machine whirrs and drips the last drops into the mug, which Eugene grabs with easy hands. He flinches a bit; like it’s too hot, but still grabs it anyway. He turns, glances over him and glances again, realizing he’s awake with a little glint in his eye.

“You’re awake,” he says.

“You’re home,” he rasps. His voice is sleep-ridden, but he is not tired. He is more at peace than anything. “When did you get back?”

“’Round five-ish.” Gene says, reaching to the stolen creamer cups they have stashed by the napkins. He knows with a loving knowledge that Eugene likes his coffee with one creamer, because he doesn’t like anything too sweet but nothing too bitter.

“Waited for you,” He says quietly, fingers curling in the blanket. He feels vulnerable. He feels like with Eugene, it’s okay.

Eugene’s eyes soften. “I know.”

He wanders over to where he’s sitting on the couch, sets the mug on the coffee table. The table itself is actually held up on top of a book, because the leg broke and they’re still saving up for a new one. It’s one of his favorites, too – _Fallout._ It’s a pretty easy book, but he’s also not very good at reading. (Really, he just looks for colorful covers.) Eugene plops next to him with a sigh, and he turns to face him, legs curled up. “How was your day? Are you- are you off call?”

“Rough,” He says. His shoulders droop, like he holds the weight of the entire world. They are vulnerable. “But I’m off call.”

He shifts a little closer, slowly slides his legs out of his blanket and onto Eugene’s lap hesitantly, like it’s their first date and like they haven’t been together for more than two years, and he knows he won’t mind. They’ve seen it all. “Do you wanna tell me about it?” He asks. They never push each other. They exist and revolve around each other, and that in itself is enough.

Gene sighs. He does this heart-tweaking thing where he pulls his lips into a thin line and bunches his eyebrows together, stressed. If you looked hard enough, you’d notice him frowning kind of brings out his laugh lines.

“Car crash,” he says, and that’s all he needs to know. It’s like a secret code embedded in both of their skins – the car crashes they put him on are always the worst, because he can do the best. It’s probably the greatest and worst thing they could do to him, really.

“Had to amputate his leg, but he still-“ He pauses, breathes hard. His back is hunched, and his knuckles are white. He rests them on his legs.

“I’m sorry, Gene.” He whispers, quiet. The morning makes him feel like he has to whisper, like he might startle or wake something if he speaks at his regular tone. Outside he can hear two birds screaming and fighting in the tree next to it. He sits himself more upright.

“What can I- what can I do?” He asks, and the blanket slowly begins to fall off him. He’s still in his boxers, but he’s also in a sweater – it’s autumn and the nights are cold, and he swears Eugene produces very little body heat at all. He probably actually makes things colder. He excessively buys sweaters, and even though he says he just likes them, he’s really just trying to get Gene to stay warm.

He… really loves him a whole lot.

“I dunno, Blithe.”

It’s (probably) seven in the morning and he just woke up. His boyfriend is home, guilty and tired, and his mind is going a million miles a minute. All he can think is of John Cusak creating a Frankenstein burger and Laura Waterbury literally blowing up.

“Let’s watch a movie.” He says, spontaneously. Eugene seems relieved.

“Okay.” He says. His accent puts this little lilt in his voice, and he swears it’s the sweetest thing his ears have ever heard _~~(among other sounds Eugene has made)~~_. “Whatd’you wanna watch?”

“Better Off Dead,” he thinks.

“Have I seen that one?” Gene asks, and when he breathes some of the tension leaves his shoulders. He realizes his fists are still clenched, and unclenches them, flexing his fingers before deciding to rub at the knots in his leg.

“Least I don’t think you have,” he replies, blinking. He has only met one person in his life who has known that movie, and they aren’t alive anymore. “I got it from the library.”

It’s overdue. He costs the library two dollars, but he can’t seem to let go of it.

 

“Okay,” Roe says again.

 

“Okay.” He says quietly, swinging his legs off his lap. It is the morning and the world waking up.

 

He wanders over to their bookshelf and rummages around for it, and then in the kitchen while Eugene helpfully looks for the TV remote. He somehow finds it on top of the cupboards covered a little in dust, which he brushes off and pads back to Gene waiting on the couch, past him to their dinky CD player and slides it in. It boots up, and he grabs the blanket and cuddles up to Gene again.

“’m not cold,” he complains, sliding his arms out from under the blanket, but not making any effort to move it off himself.

He doesn’t respond. He waits for it to boot up and old, old movie trailers to get through to the beginning of the movie. He sighs. He reaches over to the coffee table and steals a sip of Eugene’s coffee, and grimaces because it’s still too bitter for him.

He thinks to when they first met. He had woken up in the ambulance from a supposed hit and run and couldn’t see. He freaked out. He sobbed and cried, but Roe was there, cupped his face in his hands and whispered promises and comforts. His first thought was how fucking beautiful this man had to be to consider holding him at all, and he stupidly fell in love instantly. It was probably the anesthetics. His was almost instantaneous; but it took a year or so of phone calls and coffee meet ups before they started talking to each other regularly and he got the courage to ask for a date.

In the few seconds, he thinks about every side he has seen of Gene. That he is witty and really, really goddamn dedicated to his job. He’s an early riser like him but he also can’t sleep most nights. He hates the nickname Doc because it’s a constant reminder, but he also doesn’t have the heart to tell the guys to stop. He knows how he makes his coffee, that he likes spicy food and that he doesn’t eat sweets very often at all, that he doesn’t speak Cajun too much either, but he swears it’s the biggest turn on of his life when he does. (He would never admit that aloud to anyone. Not even drunk, because he just kind of passes out when he gets drunk.)

“What it’s about?” Roe asks, gently swatting him away from stealing too much of his coffee and takes it back with steady hands.

“Huh?” he says, snapping back into reality.

“The movie,” He points, eyes flicking from the TV to him. “what is it about?”

“There’s- there’s this guy who’s obsessed with his girlfriend. Loves her a whole lot.” He says, looking to the screen. This should be the last trailer. He knows it in its entirety by heart. The trailer is of a cheesy comedy and a plane crashes through the airport windows.

“But she breaks up with him. And, there’s a French exchange student.”

Eugene turns to him and raises an eyebrow. “A French exchange student?”

“It’s-“ he shifts uncomfortably, embarrassed. “the- the movie. It’s starting.”

Eugene just laughs. It’s good. They are good, and what once was vulnerable is better than it was before. He breathes and lays his head on Eugene’s shoulder.

It’s good. The movie still leaves him laughing in some places, because it’s ridiculous and Eugene gets a kick out of the Frankenstein burger dance scene, which is truly an iconic scene anyway. He isn’t much of a laugher, and he knows that, but it is good to see him smile and chuckle. He kept looking away and at Gene, because he wants to see his reactions. He can’t stop looking at him. If he really did go blind the day they met, it would probably be the biggest curse anyone could have wished upon him.

“-ithe? You okay?” He blinks.

“What?” He asks. He’s stuck in his head.

“Somethin’ wrong?” Roe asks again.

“No,” he says quickly, “no, no it’s – you’re-“

_The most beautiful man I’ve seen in my life. When you fall asleep I can’t help but thank god because you have been given a break. When you aren’t looking, all I do is stare and think about how it’s you I want to spend the rest of my life with._

He doesn’t say any of those things. He leans forward, and he kisses him.

He’s gained a lot more courage over the past couple years because of Roe, and he thinks he’s given him something too. (He isn’t sure what, but he hopes its good.) Eugene’s lips are soft, because unlike him instead of biting and drawing blood he pulls them thin with his tongue inbetween his teeth. This is something he guesses, because while he knows him, he does not know everything. Roe kisses sweet – always. He can kiss hard and it’d still rock your world with how sweet it is; he always tries to give a little bit of it back. Eugene pulls away, smiling, resting his forehead on his.

“What was that for?” He asks, still smiling. From this close, you can actually see the brown in his eyes. He has these pretty little speckles of light brown that meshes into the darker ones, like a gradient of chocolates. He’s beautiful.

“I love you,” he says instead. He means it with more sincerity then their shared bed and their broken coffee machine. Than cleaning when Eugene is gone because he wants things to be good when he comes home, even though he’s a klutz and breaks more plates than they have doing dishes. Than stealing cheesy 80’s movies for the bad nights and learning all the Cajun recipes he can to near decency because Eugene loves them. He wants to spend the rest of his life with Eugene Roe if he will let him.

“Love you too.” He says, and there’s this twinkle in his eyes he barely catches. He leans in and kisses him again.

They live in a shitty first-floor apartment with creaky floorboards under the carpet and a broken coffee machine. They eat from paper plates because he broke all the glass ones. Their schedules don’t line up and Eugene is gone half the time, but he loves him all the same. He has four overdue books to the library and he even works there, and they say if he gets one more fine he’s going to have to work at a different one. He’s deeply in love and he hopes everyone in the world knows it.

Eugene pushes him against the couch and his hands are in his hair. It’s almost eight in the morning and the skies are blue and he doesn’t care at all.


End file.
